The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-11-10
A NARROW ESCAPE.
My Pretty Cousin, Her Lover and
Miss Blanch Bernard.

Miss Blanch Bernard.
Miss Blanch Bernard had lovely hair,
wavy, plentiful, golden, with those pc
culiarly beautiful lights which Giorgi-
one and Titan have made immortal,
: glimmering and sparkling through its
luxuriant waves. Miss Blanch was by
no means a regulation beauty, but the
shape of her head was classical, her
eyes large and lustrious, her teeth
white and regular, and her form could
be described but by one word-perfec-
ton. Yet her hair was her piece de re-
SiStdnce-how many men have raved
over its splendor and lost their hearts
in its golden depthsi One l have spec
j cause to remember because he had
e.gaged himself to my cousin, a pretty,
lovable little thing, before Miss Ber-
nlrd's golden locks dawned upon him
and tangled him in their bewildering
Yeshes.
Miss Bernard had other attractions
besides golden hair, lustrous eyes and
milky teeth. She could sing with taste
and feeling, play superbly, dance like
a sylph is supposed to dance, and talk
like-a woman. Still, as camelias,
which have beauty and dignity, have
no sweetness, and roses, which have
both beauty and fragrance, have
thorns, Miss Bernard had her draw
backs. Some were merely the faults
of the woman, wOmanly, and could be
pardoned by lover. She had a trick.
for instance, of holding one spellbound
by dropping her eyes until her lovely
Sark lashes were outlined by her bril-
liant checks with pre-Raphaelite dis
tinctness, then lifting her white lids
and flashing the full glory of her hazel
orbs upon her masculine adorer. l
have seen this vancouver practiced
with deadly effect not only by Miss
Bernard, but by scores of pretty wom-
en-, violet-eyed, hazel-eyed, black-eyed
and gray; but l warn cross
eyed girls, white eyed girls
and girls with white. pig-like
lashes to beware of it. Then, her head
being classical, she invariably wove her
hair after a simple and most charming
fashion-coiling its cleaning masses in
a heavy, careless knot. This style had
three-fold advantages: first, it was a
delightful contrast to the heads of
womankind in general, and gave Miss
Bernard distinct and striking style
of her own; secondly, it was especially
becoming and eminently calculated to
display to the utmost the beauty of her
shapely head and lovely hair; thirdly,
it had the advantage of tumbling over
her graceful shoulders in most admired
disorder upon the least provocation.
1fMiss Bernard waltzed, her hair had
a way of loosening its cleaning coils;
if she threw back her head and laughed
"a cadenced, musical laugh which OF
itself was enough to take captive the
most obdurate and unimpressible of
member hair showered down like a
mist of gold; if she romped with
Bertha, her year-old niece, down came
her golden fleece. And when lustrous
eyes and dewy lips sparkled and smiled
from out this shimmering mass of
tumbled gold, st. Anthony himself
could not have resisted her, at least for
the first time he should behold the Wis
ion; after he had seen it a score of
times. its charm would depart with its
novelty. 1t was this, to me, transpar-
ent trickery of the falling hair which
was the most potent charm to my
cousins lover. Being the sworn cham
pion of womankind. will not insinu-
ate that all ladies with luxuriant tress-
es allow them to tumble about in this
promiscuous fashion.
Miss Demands thorns were of a
more pronounced character than the
varieties / have recounterd. If her
eyes were flashing and fiery, so was
her temper, and, though her lips could
smile sweetly, she had, like Petrucio' S
Kate. "a tongue with q tang within
her dewy roses As a Just and trust
full rGconteur l must testify that
always found her tongue velvety and
the temper sweet as milk and honey.
but my cousins lover discovered the
volcanic nature of her temper on one.
to him, memorable occasion. Clal.
ence was frank, merry, good-lookine
young fellow, whose personal attrac
tions were intensified by fortune Of
some hundreds of thousands of dollars
He was an pGrti pris. and Miss Bern
ard kI ew it. Miss Bernard had pas
sion for young men with money
while Clarence had passion fol
naturalness in women, personal anC
otherwise. and thought Miss Bernard
was the most ingenious. as she wa.
the loveliest and most fascinating, O
girls.
He came into my room one nigh
with face pale and troubled.
Erred" he said, Il have COMES